title: Deployment of military mothers: supportive and nonsupportive military programs, processes, and policies.
abstract: Military mothers and their children cope with unique issues when mothers are deployed. In this article, we present mothers' perspectives on how military resources affected them, their children, and their caregivers during deployment. Mothers described beneficial features of military programs such as family readiness groups and behavioral health care, processes such as unit support, and policies on length and timing of deployments. Aspects that were not supportive included inflexibility in family care plans, using personal leave time and funds for transporting children, denial of release to resolve caretaker issues, and limited time for reintegration. We offer recommendations for enhanced support to these families that the military could provide.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, The Catholic University of America, Gowan Hall, 620 Michigan Avenue, Northeast, Washington, DC 20064, USA.
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Goodman
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: Janice
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Agazio
authors.forename: Meryia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Throop
authors.forename: Diane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Padden
authors.forename: Shawna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Greiner
authors.forename: Shannon L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Hillier
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006078:Government Programs; D006801:Humans; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D057766:Policy; D012944:Social Support; D014481:United States; D059030:United States Department of Defense